Boy Scouts of America, Patriots’ Path Council will be honoring local citizens at the 2014 Summit Good Scout Award Dinner to be held at the Grand Summit Hotel on the evening of Thursday, April 24.

This year’s honorees are Dave Bomgaars, Vincent Candela, Terry Dwyer, Jordan Glatt and Patty McDonald. The event recognizes these five outstanding citizens for their community service, as evidenced by their leadership and interests within the Summit community, and for their embodiment of the values of the century-old Scout Oath and Law in their personal and professional lives.

“Through their years of dedication, each of our honorees has contributed toward making Summit an outstanding community,” said Mary Ann Kaufman, a past honoree who is co-chairing this year’s event with her husband and past honoree, Brian. “Whether by volunteering or through public service, all of our honorees have distinguished themselves as great citizens, not only for their efforts but also for the way they went about it,” said Brian Kaufman. “It’s wonderful to honor them in this way for their concerted efforts."

Dave Bomgaars has served as city councilman, Ward 2, since 2006, and as council president from 2010-2012. He has served on the City Planning Board, the Zoning Board of Adjustment, the Summit Board of Education, the Board of School Estimate, and as a member of Mayor Long's Sports Advisory Committee and Task Force on County Government.

Vincent Candela volunteers at various church activities at St. Teresa’s parish. He runs their annual food drives at Thanksgiving and Christmas, and is in charge of St. Teresa’s Social Concerns committee, assisting the needy in the area. Vinny is also a member of the Mexico Mission committee which helps support a community in Iztapalapa, Mexico.

Terry Dwyer began volunteering for scouting in Summit as the Cubmaster of Pack 260. After a couple of years as cub master, Terry and his sons crossed over to Boy Scout Troop 67 sponsored by St. Teresa’s Parish where for the past three years, he has been an assistant scoutmaster. Along with his Liam (Life Scout) and Adam (Star Scout), Terry are looking forward to the troop’s Philmont trek in July.

Jordan Glatt is the former Mayor of Summit. In January 2012 he completed his second term where he was elected with over 60% of the popular vote. A nod to his strength in coalition building and marketing, he was the first of his party to win an election in the 100+ year history of the city. Glatt previously served as a councilman at large, launched the Mayor’s Partnership for Technology in Summit public schools in 1995 and founded First Night Summit in 1993.

Patty McDonald has always placed great importance on volunteering in Summit. In addition to coaching tennis, baseball and soccer, she is a seven-year board member and five-year executive board member of Summit Junior Baseball and Girls Softball. She served a three year term as communications director for the Summit Soccer Club and she has been a long time active member of the Franklin School PTO and chair of the 2008 Walk-a-thon. She is also an active volunteer and advocate for children with disabilities and epilepsy awareness.

Summit has a very active scouting program for over 250 youth in four Cub Scout packs (for boys ages 7 to 11 years), sponsored by Brayton School PTA; Franklin School PTA; Jefferson School PTO; and Lincoln and Washington Schools PTA; and three Boy Scout troops (for boys ages 11-18), sponsored by St. Teresa of Avila Roman Catholic Church; and a co-ed Venture Crew sponsored by Summit Elks Lodge 1246. All are part of the Watchung Mountain District of the Patriots’ Path Council, Boy Scouts of America. In this district, some 3,000 youth are served by over 70 scouting units in communities like ours throughout Union, Morris and Somerset counties.

For more information on scouting in Summit, attending the event, and sponsoring in the program journal, contact Jennifer Volz, Development Director, at 973-765-9322, ext. 249 and/or jennifer.volz@scouting.org.